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Home My WebLink About2010-08-27 Euless ArticlesDISTRIBUTED TO: ,tIAYOR CITYCNCL CITYATTNY CRIM MCKAMIE BROWN YOUNG ANIMAL CNT McDONALD COLLINS C. BARKER GETCHELL L1BRARYADA-IIN LIBRARY REF HARTSELL DATE DISTRIBUTED $? I rl"l /10 DATE OFARTICLE g /dO/I 0 NEWSPAPER FWST ~RTHEAST CLlel( DISTRIBlJTED TO: PAGE10F~ MAYOR CITYCNCL C1TYATTNY CRlM MCKA,WIE BROWN YOlfNG ANIMAL CNT McDONALD COLLINS C BARKER GETCHELL LIBRARY ADMIN LIBRARY REF HARTSELL DATE DISTRlBlfTED ~ / d. 7 /10 DATEOFARTICLE ~ /d/3/IO NEWSPAPER FWST Belt-tightening time for three cities D Hurst. Euless and Bedford must make tough choices as h d b d ets t ey a opt u g , . By Terry EYanI tevans(jjlstar-tele&ram.com He pointed out that Hurst provides a 20 percent homestead exemption, something that Caruthers discussed With the council. "Some cities may have a Falling property values and lower tax rate but don't slumping sales tax revenues are i even offer a bomesteadex· leaving~offi£:\als in Hurst. Euless and Be4ford with difficult choic es, including not :fijlfngopen po-," .~., .--. __J_ .., sitions while trying to W ..il.Jl1tain.city services. Property tax rates would in. crease in Hurst and Bedford but! remain the same in Euless if the: city,' ,councils adopt city staff,; IJl.,8mben' budget recommenda - , tlons, which also include cutting' 0, "1.-"'Y'IVlnses ~and Hurst will have, pubUc'heaPngsfor their budgets I . . --, -'1\1~, EuleaoD Aug. 31. All three cities will adopt budgets by: Sept. 14. -f Hurst teavmg five full;tfme positions vacant is one way that the city is dealing with its budget woes, along witq a 4.3-cent increase in its property tax rate. The proposed '$30.8, million general fund budget is about 1.2 percent lower than last year's $31.2 million budget, Finance Di rector Clay Caruthers said. Five, vacant full-time positions, but no police officers, were eliminat ed.' Other eliminations were in engineering, fiscal services and the municipal court .. Caruthers said a tax rate in crease to 57.8 centS per $100 of assessed property value has. been proposed. That would mean about $1.80 more per month for the owner of a' property with the average assessed, value, $133,000, Caruthers said. emption," he said. In Southlake, a $15,000 homestead exemption was available for all propertynue sources tintilthe econ .. owners ~-the fiscal 2009, II.J f budget but was left out 0 the 20l0budge.t and isn't· pro~d for the 2011 bud get, city spokeswoman Pi-:larSclumksaid. ' The Fort' Worth CityCOUll~tl, struggling to makeupa$77.~nbud- get shortfall~: ~,',talked i Keeping the tax rate at 47 cent$ per $100 assessed valuation Was challenging in the face of a 5.2 percent decrease in Euless' total as sessed property valuation, coupled with a projected 12.5 percent sales tax reve· ' nue decrease. . '''We'te balancing the budget by using otherreve ' , ' d but ,omy turns lIl'ourt , 'wefre not dipping in!O our reserves:' Rodriquez said. "We had already done some cu,ts," like travel and train. fug, some supplies. .,. We asked our departments to take' it down to the bare' minfm.7,1Ii1." See' -the budget at :tbout cut~ptOpelty tax. . euI homestead 'eXemptions. ' .Vf'!IW. esslx.gov. Caruthers satd Hurst., Bedford i anticipates no servi~e-level reductions. '; , "\Ve're basically-trying to spread the workload out b ffi iand ecome more e cent wherever we canf he said. See the budget.at ci .hurst.lx.us. Euless Ifnotfor a car rental facility with several companies op eItting from it at Dallasl ""_ 'dk in B d .lUUes are so tOUI!!i'. e-: ford that it is cuttIng what iJ usuallysacrosimet: the·; Police Department. ' ' The city is not filling a patrol officer vacancy and a public service' officer posi tionas part of budget cuts that also include leaving fiVe other jobs vacant in building inspections, com munity service and'public Fort Worth Airport, tiled-, works.' \ . ty would have a totigher time dealing with the sl10rtfalls 'in 'its general fund revenue. The 'proppsed $29.7 mil lion operating budget -is 0.58 percent below last year's, 'Finance Director " Vicki Rodriquez said. She saidseven vacant positions were not funded, britiglng the payroll down to 374 po-' sitions., . The proposed $27.2 mil lion general fund budget includes a $61,000 in crease in operatitlg expens es for the library that opens in early 2011, City Manager Beverly Queen said. "OUr total spending is down across the entire budgetr she said. "At this point the only thing we doltt know is what water and sewer rates will be.. Those final budget figpres won't arrive until early September, but weantici pate an increase in those rates." -----"------------ The tax rate m~t in crease roughly 2.8 cents per . $100 of valuation to raise the same amount of reve nue as last year, when property values were about 4 percent pj.gher, she said. If the council accepts that . and sets the. rate at 49.2 cents per $100 of valua tion, the tax bill on the average home in Bedford, which has an assessed val ue of about $146,000, will increase about $2.29.·tH/r month. Last year's avera.ge J residential valuation was -$147,942. The city's contri , 'bution to employee hea1tli I savings accounts would' also. Qe eliminated, QUeen, said. The proposed budget preserves hours andsetvic es at all city facilities but includes minor feeincreas es, she said. See the budget at the public library, 1605 L. Don Dodson Drive. thIs report InCludes materlail from the Star~Telearam 3rchives. Terry Evans. 817-390·7620 . I